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Green Lantern Corps
: "We must act now. Act with the same boldness and courage that our Lantern Corps displays" - The Guardians of the Universe History Origin In the early days of The Universe, natives of the overpopulated planet Maltus evolved into immortals of great power. They subsequently settled the planet Oa and declared themselves the Guardians of the Universe and enemies of evil after one of their own, the renegade scientist Krona, performed a forbidden experiment that had terrible consequences for the Universe at large. Exactly what those consequences were have varied with different versions of the stories; originally, it was supposed to have unleashed Evil in the first place. Later, it was attributed to have created the Antimatter Universe of Qward. Later still, it was used as the explanation for the existence of parallel universes in the DC Universe (and the creation of the Monitor), which eventually led to the rearrangement of Time itself, as seen in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Finally, it has been stated that it accelerated entropy, shortening the duration of the universe by a billion years. Some of the Guardians, however, disagreed on how to deal with the chaos that had been unleashed. One group, calling itself the Controllers, separated itself from the others and favored using more violent methods to achieve their ends. They would later found the Darkstars organization. The female Oans, feeling no need to involve themselves in the situation, also left, becoming later known as the Zamarons. Manhunter Failure To enforce their will and guard against alien menaces of all sorts, the Guardians had created a legion of robotic sentinels called the Manhunters about 3.5 billion years ago. The Manhunters eventually came to resent their servitude and were also viewed as flawed due to their inability to recognize and/or feel fear. They rebelled against the Guardians and fought a millennia long war that culminated with an attack on the planet Oa. Ultimately, the Guardians overcame their android servants, stripping them of their power and banishing them across the universe. Eventually, they formed their own robotic society where they pursued their own agenda (which often included interfering with and foiling the plans of the Guardians). Creation of The Corps Chastened by the failure of The Manhunters, the Guardians decided that their newest force of soldiers for good would consist of living beings, ones who had free will and strong moral character. To arm this new legion of celestial knights, the Guardians created the Power Rings, rings of inconceivably advanced technology that allowed their wearers to project green beams of energy with which the bearer could conjure objects of any size or shape, limited only by his or her imagination and willpower. Although the connection between the Guardian Oans and the origin of the Green Lantern symbol has yet to be clarified, it has been revealed that the lantern itself has its roots in the first life in the universe. Allegedly, the first life in the galaxy emerged on an unnamed foggy world, and when they developed a police force the first in the universe - the constabulary carried a lantern lit with a green chemical flame, hence a corp of Green Lanterns. It is believed that this ideal was adopted and spread throughout the galaxy as a symbol for law and justice and its ability to pierce confusion and uncertainty, eventually resulting in the formation of the Green Lantern Corps, with requisite power rings and lantern-shaped batteries along traditional lines. Initially consisting of only a few dozen agents at a time, the Corps radically increased its numbers approximately 1000 years ago. The Guardians sought to bring order to the planet known as Apokolips. Home to Darkseid, a galactic tyrant, Apokolips was and is a stronghold of evil. Green Lantern Raker Qarrigat sought to remove Darkseid from power, only to be humbled by Darkseid's might. Raker returned to Oa, where he convinced the Guardians that taking Apokolips would require an army. Authorized to start a massive recruitment, Raker and his fellow Lanterns inducted thousands of new members, bringing total membership up to 3600. Crisis and Aftermath Both the Corps and the Guardians suffered casualties during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Guardians' failure to take appropriate action during the Crisis led to their decision to depart Oa in the company of their female counterparts, the Zamarons. Left to their own devices, the Corps underwent a major reorganization. A team of Green Lanterns led by Hal Jordan was stationed on Earth, and the system of assigning one Green Lantern to a sector was temporarily abandoned. The decision of the Corps to execute Sinestro resulted in the activation of a previously unknown fail-safe that depowered the rings of every Green Lantern except for Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, G'Nort and Ch'p. The Guardians eventually returned to Oa and began the reconstruction of the Corps, assigning Guy Gardner to Earth, John Stewart to the Mosaic World, and Hal Jordan to recruit new members. Ironically, Jordan himself would eventually be responsible for destroying the incarnation of the Corps that he had helped create. Fall of The Green Lantern Corps The Green Lantern Corps patrolled the DC Universe for over three billion years. In that vast length of time, some Green Lanterns rebelled and fell into evil. A rogue Green Lantern, Universo, was briefly shown to exist in the future epoch of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but multiple retcons have long since eliminated this possible future. Two of the most important rebels were Sinestro, the rogue Green Lantern, and Hal Jordan, driven insane over the loss of his home, Coast City, and possession by Parallax. The Green Lantern Corps ranks were decimated by Hal Jordan during his madness, its power source, the Main Battery, extinguished; and Oa destroyed, removing the original power source for the rings. After the fall of the Corps, other organizations tried to fill in the power vacuum left by the Guardians. Two organizations had initial notable successes; the Darkstars and L.E.G.I.O.N. However neither ever achieved the power and reach of the Green Lantern Corps. Rebirth of The Corp : "Brothers and Sisters. It is time" - Guardians of the Universe upon the restoration of the Corps. Recently Oa was reconstructed by Hal Jordan's old sidekick Tom Kalmaku, and shortly thereafter Kyle Rayner, the last remaining Green Lantern, resurrected the Guardians as children using the power Parallax had stolen. The resurrections did not stop there. It was discovered that Hal Jordan had committed his crimes while possessed by the ancient fear parasite Parallax. Parallax had been imprisoned within the Central Power Battery for billions of years and is the mysterious "Yellow Impurity" within the Corps' green light that leaves them vulnerable against yellow. Once Parallax had been exorcised, the now adult Guardians re-imprisoned Parallax. With that, the Guardians continued the re-construction and expansion of the Corps. The new Corps, under the training of Kilowog, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner and other veterans, was primarily filled by new recruits. Only a handful of veteran Lanterns are back in the ranks. Each sector will have two Lanterns assigned to protect it. Due to an ancient pact with the Spider Guild the Vega star system is off limits to all members of the Corps. With 3600 sectors and two Green Lanterns per sector, it will be many years before the Corps regains its former strength. It presently lacks both the manpower and the political influence it once had due to its years-long absence from many sectors. This has left it currently unable to intervene in situations it might have before Parallax destroyed the old Corps, including conflicts such as the Rann-Thanagar War. The Guardians remain staunchly uninvolved in what they see as a conflict that could destabilize many sectors, but that has not stopped Kyle Rayner and Kilowog from helping refugees. Despite these difficulties, the Corps played a key role in defeating Superboy-Prime. Several Lanterns were killed slowing the renegade Superboy's advance on Oa, a sacrifice that enabled Earth's most powerful heroes to execute their plan to restrain him. Mogo, the sentient planet and Corps member, positioned himself to act as a final battleground between Superboy-Prime and the two Supermen. The Corps took responsibility for imprisoning Superboy-Prime, incarcerating him inside a small red Sun-Eater with fifty Green Lanterns on constant guard duty. "Prime Duty" is considered one of the lowlier functions of the Corps, and Guy Gardner was sentenced to a month of such duty for one of his frequent rules infractions. As of the "One Year Later" timeframe, the Green Lantern Corps has increased its numbers, with many former trainees now full-fledged officers. The lack of truly experienced GLs remains an issue, with Guy Gardner being called upon often to assist the rookies. The transformation of Kyle Rayner to Ion also holds unknown ramifications for the future of the Corps. Sinestro Corps War Rogue Green Lantern Sinestro, working with the Anti-Monitor, has created his own version of the Corps. Dubbed the "Sinestro Corps", it recruits beings capable of generating great fear. Armed with yellow Power Rings and Lanterns manufactured on Qward, the Sinestro Corps recently staged an attack on Oa, killing dozens of GLC officers, kidnapping Kyle Rayner and freeing Superboy-Prime, Parallax and the Cyborg Superman from the Corps' supervision. As the Sinestro Corps' campaign of terror spreads, the Guardians, in desperation, rewrite the first Law of Ten in the Book of Oa, enabling the remaining Lanterns to use lethal force. When the Sinestro Corps gathered for an assault on Earth, the Green Lantern Corps and Earth Superheroes united to fight off the invasion force. Eventually, during the Battle of New York, Guy Gardner and John Stewart used Warworld and it's mobile Power Battery as a weapon against the Anti-Monitor, with the Green Lanterns throwing up a shield to contain the Anti-Monitor and the explosion. The Anti-Monitor and Cyborg Superman were both seriously injured in the explosion, and Superboy Prime then betrayed the Anti-Monitor, hurling him away from Earth. At Coast City, Hal Jordan was able to free Kyle Rayner from Parallax's control, and he was imprisoned in the Earth Lanterns power batteries. During the Sinestro Corps subsequent invasion of Coast City, Hal and Kyle were able to defeat and arrest Sinestro, ending the Sinestro Corp War. Rise of The Lantern Corps Following the Sinestro Corps War, the Guardians, under the leadership of the Scar, began taking new measures to prevent the Blackest Night from occurring. The Guardians established the Alpha-Lantern Corps as an internal affairs force to investigate any abuses of power or dereliction of duty. The Alpha Lanterns were subjected to invasive surgery that essentially made them Lantern Manhunter hybrids. Following this, the Guardians authorized lethal force against all enemies of the Green Lantern Corps. Meanwhile, Qwardian rings continued to search for new bearers across the galaxy, one of which made their way to Mongul II. He tried to take over the Sinestro Corps in their time of weakness. A team of Lanterns under Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner, on a search for the remaining Qwardian rings, discovered Mongul and managed to defeat him, leaving him for dead, though he escaped soon after. At the same time, the Guardians were aware of the Zamarons experiments into the Violet light to form the Star Sapphires. After a failed diplomatic mission, the Guardians established a new rule forbidding romantic relationships between members of the Green Lantern Corps. This act backfired on the Guardians, as dozens of Green Lantern couples resigned in protest. Having been on death row since the end of the war, Sinestro was eventually ordered to be transferred to Korugar for execution. A team of Green Lanterns, including Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kilowog, and Salakk, oversaw the transfer, only to come under ambush by the Sinestro Corps, who had been informed of the transfer by the Scarred Guardian. However, the Sinestro Corps were themselves ambushed by the Red Lantern Corps under Atrocitus, seeking to capture Sinestro for himself. The Green Lanterns were left for dead, their rings corrupted by the rage of the Red Lanterns. However, they in turn were rescued by Saint Walker of the Blue Lantern Corps. Awakening of Agent Orange The Corps. itself was next engaged in the subjugation of Larfleeze, otherwise known as Agent Orange. Awoken from his solitude on Okaara by the intervention of the Controllers, who wished to take control of a portion of the Emotion Spectrum for themselves, Agent Orange sent a message to the Guardians of the Universe in the form of a severely damaged Stel, and a hologram. The message described larfleeze's rage at being disturbed, despite the Guardian's assurances that it was not them who disturbed him. Remarking that their previous pact was null and void, he demanded they give into his terms, though Scar blasted the hologram, remarking that the Guardians do not deal with terrorists. The Guardians (apart from Scar), and a battalion of Lanterns (including Hal Jordan and John Stewart) flew to Okaara, all of the Guardians but one agreeing to lift the ban on the vega system. There they challenged Larfleeze to surrender to them, only to be assaulted by his army of Orange Lantern avatars. Larfleeze took an interest in Jordan, who sported a blue ring, and kidnapped him. Eventually Jordan managed to defeat Larfleeze, using his blue ring to keep his green ring charged eternally, and sending a counter army of green constructs against larfleeze's avatars. The Guardians proceeded to try and kill Larfleeze, but stopped when the orange lantern said that even if they did kill him, another would take possession of the orange light. Thinking it best that they know their enemy, and where he is, the Guardians make a deal with him, betraying Ganthet and Sayd's location to him in exchange for Larfleeze not interfering in Green lantern business. Meanwhile, on Oa, the red lantern Vice has been captured by the Alpha Lanterns, and sent to be incarcerated. Unfortunately, Scar sees Vice as a catalyst for he plans on Oa, and releases the muzzle on his mouth. Assaulting the prison guard, Voz, Vice proceeds to rampage through the sciencells, releasing and killing a great number of inmates, starting a riot. The Corps. on Oa converges on the prison, attempting to subdue the prisoners. before long, the Alpha lanterns arrive, and encase all of the prisoners aside from two who had agreed to help re-round up the other prisoners inside a large spherical construct. At the same time, Scar finds Lyssa Drak in the bowels of Oa, searching for her Book of Parallax. Instead, the Sinestro finds Scar's Book of the Black, which upon opening and viewing a page, is slammed into it by scar, and sealed inside. Moments after, Scar uses the book to cause a seismic disturbance that cracks open and destroys the protective shell over Oa. The Guardians return from their meeting with Larfleeze, and order the escaped prisoners to be executed, evidently on edge over the recent occurrences. All but the two who had helped at systematically slaughtered by the Alpha lanterns. The Blackest Night Within their Citadel, the Guardians observe with grim contemplation the War of Light. The red Lanterns fight the Alpha Lanterns, the Sinestro and Star Sapphires, and the Blue and Orange Corps. fight each other across the universe. Admitting their failure to avert the Blackest Night, the Guardians begin to plan for it. At the same time, Black Hand has been subtly manipulating events on earth, stealing Batman's skull and raising several prominent dead superheroes into Black Lanterns. No sooner does this happen, than the Central Power Battery on Ryut regurgitates thousands upon thousands of Black lantern Rings across the universe. Scar, in the Citadel with her fellow Guardians, seizes a nearby male Guardian, and proceeds to viciously kill him, ripping out his heart after biting into his jugular, and eating it, much to the horror of the other Guardians. Black Lantern rings rain upon Oa, smashing their way into the crypts and raising the former lanterns. As the Black Lanterns rampage across the universe, Scar kidnaps the other Guardians, and takes them to Ryut, where she displays to them the Blackest Night in full swing as they are encased within the Black Energy ooze. She then induces a forced sleep on them, implying some form of transformation or sacrifice. In the confusion of the Black Lantern assault on Oa, the on-planet Lanterns try to hold off the ever growing hordes. Indigo-2, Munk, shows up and offers his assistance to Isamot Kol and Vath Sarn, who both wonder as to why he can destroy the Black Lanterns and they can't. At the same time, Kryb breaks out of her prison on Zamaron during the Black Lantern uprising there, and convinces Star Sapphire Miri Riam to help her look for the children she kidnapped, whom she apparently truly loves. The trail leads them to Oa, where for a while now the children had been attacking as Black Lanterns, having died from neglect and starvation where Kryb had left them while imprisoned. By the time they get to Oa, several Green Lanterns had had the idea to let Vice out of his sciencell, and attack the Black Lanterns, which he did, so hastily and viciously that the Black Lanterns couldn't reform quick enough under the effects of his red light, and were promptly destroyed. Unfortunately, Alpha Lantern Chaselon witnessed Vice's escape, and under the influence of his programming, slaughtered Vice on the spot, thus earning himself the attention of the Black Lanterns. The Black Lanterns overwhelmed him, and critically damaged his Alpha Lantern Battery. Knowing what was going to happen, Kyle Rayner pulled the Battery towards himself, put a shield around as many Black Lanterns as he could get, and destroyed himself along with the battery, vaporizing the Black Lanterns in the process. This catastrophic event led to Guy Gardner becoming so angry, that Vice's red ring forced itself onto him, and made him a Red Lantern, and sending him on a wild killing spree like Vice before him. During the melee, the green lantern planetoid, Mogo, warps over Oa, and proceeds to use his gravitational field to pull the Black Lanterns on planet into his core, incinerating them eternally as their rings try to reform them. Just before, Kryb who had just arrived on Oa, attempted to stop Gardner from slaughtering her Black Lantern children, only to have him pull off one of her arms and ram it into her mouth. After Mogo's prompt actions, the rest of the Green Lanterns, Miri Riam, and Munk, all try to stop Guy Gardner's red rampage, only to be unsuccessful. Mogo pulls him too with his gravitational manipulation, and drags him into a cleansing pool, which successfully removes the red ring, but fails to remove the red energy from his blood, which only a Blue Lantern can do. At the same time ont he planet Oa itself, the Guardians are found to have vanished, and the Alpha Lanterns attempt to establish martial law in their absence. They are stopped however, by Salaak, who asserts his authority as Chief Administrator, and reminds them that under the Guardian's laws, he is in fact in charge during their absence. At that moment, Indigo-1's message reaches Oa, and all lanterns present fly directly off to Earth with all of the other Corps. to face off against the horde of Black Lanterns attempting to flood onto the planet from the reformed Black Lantern planet, Xanshi. Equipment *Book of Oa *Green Lantern Central Power Battery *Green Lantern Power Battery Weapons *Green Lantern Power Ring Oath *Lantern Oaths Structure Hierarchy Departments *Alpha Lantern Corps *The Corpse *Green Lantern Corps Honor Guard Ranks *'Torch Bearer' : an honorary title held by Kyle Rayner who had kept the legacy of the Green Lanterns alive after the destruction of the organization and, for a time, meant that he was exempted from ordinary tasks and only called in times of great need. *'Lantern Sentinel' : a newly created rank formed by the Guardians to designate an individual Green Lantern with complete control over the Corps and was bestowed on Guy Gardner. *'Clarissi' : second only to the Guardians themselves and held by the chief administrator of the Green Lantern Corps who also served the role as keeper of the Book of Oa. Current holders of this post include Salaak. *'Illustres' : a position below that of the chief administrator and held by leaders of the Green Lantern Honor Guard. Current holders of this post include both Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner. *'Cryptkeeper' : this rank is held by Morro and is used by those that tend to the Crypts that hold the Fallen Lanterns. Sectors and Members *'Total Sectors:' 3600 *'Total Members:' 7200 The 3600 Sectors The Corps is an organization of 7200 Green Lanterns (the old Corps had 3600) who are chosen by the ring for being able to overcome great fear, with two assigned to sectors of space that require the protection of more than one Green Lantern (Earth, home to Hal Jordan and John Stewart, is in Sector 2814). Heavily-populated Sectors like 2814 can have several Lanterns. While the primary Lanterns of Sector 2814 are Hal Jordan and John Stewart, Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner call Earth home, but are stationed on Oa, first as teachers, and then specially assigned to cases that are too difficult for the average GL. Each member has a great deal of autonomy as to their methods in their jurisdiction, subject to review by the Guardians if they feel the Green Lantern in question has abused his/her assigned authority. The individual Lanterns are responsible for arranging their replacements if they are near retirement or death. If the Lantern dies before that obligation is met, the ring will find and seek another to be trained on its own. In rare circumstances, Guardians will personally go out into the field to recruit a replacement. Upon recruitment each Green Lantern in the original Corps received a Power Ring, a Power Battery shaped like a lantern (with which the ring is recharged), and a uniform. The default uniform design for humanoids was a green section covering the torso and shoulders, black arms and leggings, green boots, white gloves, green domino mask and a chest symbol of a stylized Green Lantern icon on a white circle. Lanterns were allowed to customize their uniforms as long as the color scheme and the symbol were present. When the nature of the being precludes a standard uniform, an equivalent arrangement is expected as a substitute. For instance, Mogo, a sentient planet, arranges his foliage to create a green circling band and lantern symbol on his body. Jack T. Chance, a humanoid, refused to wear a uniform, but conceded to wearing a badge on the lapel of his coat. Lanterns were also allowed the option of a secret identity as a security measure and it is implied that the Corps were instructed to honor that choice by taking care not to expose them. Training in the use of the ring was optional and appropriate facilities and personnel were available on Oa upon request. In addition, a senior Lantern can be assigned to coach a recruit while in the field in their sector. The New Green Lantern Corps being built by the Guardians is far more formal and structured than the old one that was destroyed by Parallax. Recruits, after being found by their Power Rings, are taken to Oa for training. Not all recruits will make it through training - indeed a great many of them might even fail, forcing the ring to find another candidate. Lantern trainees have a simplified version of the old Green Lantern uniform (with green covering more of the torso) with the white circle on their chest blank, presumably until the Lantern insignia is added upon completion of their training. Additionally, all Power Rings, not just Kyle Rayner's ring, now work on the color yellow, provided the user can feel the fear behind the color and overcome it. Crimson Mantle of Command and Corps Leader After helping the Corps defeat Krona and Nekron, Hal Jordan is offered “The Crimson Mantle of Command, symbol of those who would become Corps Leader!” Jordan declines the honor, on the grounds that he is “no different than any other ring-slinger” who did “what any GL would have done given the chance!” Whether the rank and offer still stand remains to be seen. Enemies *Black Circle *Black Lantern Corps *Orange Lantern Corps *Reach *Red Lantern Corps *Sinestro Corps *Spider Guild *Star Sapphires *Weaponers of Qward Notes *It should be noted that the "Official" Green Lantern Corps Oath is used by all members. However, it is by no means the only one. Lanterns have used other, more personalized oaths, before in the History of Green Lantern Comics. Trivia *Coming Soon See also *Green Lantern Corps/Gallery In Other Media *Green Lantern Corps (Green Lantern: The Animated Series) *Green Lantern Corps (Batman: The Brave and The Bold) *In an Episode of Cartoon Network's MAD Titled "Rio-A" The Green Lantern Corps is parodied. *Green Lantern Corps (DC Animated Universe) *Green Lantern Corps (Film) Links *http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Lantern_Corps *http://www.comicvine.com/green-lantern-corps/65-6992/ Category:Teams Category:Green Lantern Corps